Smoke and Mirrors
by MonsterChibiJaxmine
Summary: This is a semi-random short, inspired by curiosity of what could have caused the mirror in the Hip Hog/Naughty Ottsel in Jak 2 to be broken in Jak 3. It got weird.


**A/N: Happy Halloween! There's no better time to come back from a fanfiction-coma than in this creepy season, methinks. So, I tried my hand at a horror story thing. It's my first, and if it sucks, please tell me how I can get better :D. Anyway, onward! I can be hyper after the story...**

The blond knew it had to be one of two things: either he was going crazy (er), or his reflection was evil. Jak stared down his reflection in the mirror, an untouched mug or alcohol sitting by his right arm. Right now, it seemed perfectly normal, just a washed out version of the washed up looking teen it represented, but…Jak leaned forward, got his arms fully on the table, and continued to stare at the man in the mirror.

He thought he spotted movement. Had it blinked?

Jak knew there was one way to find out. Frowning, he pushed himself up from the wooden bar and walked backwards as fast as he could, ignoring the mutters from a handful of indiscrete patrons and the curious looks Tess and Daxter were giving him.

Horns ripped from his reflection's forehead. The long-haired man stopped abruptly and clapped his hands to his head. He hadn't felt any surge of Dark Eco, nor any splitting pain in his temples, but he had to be sure. There wasn't anything there.

Jak slowly dropped his hands and glared at his twin in the mirror, whose hands now hadn't bothered shadowing his. It had completely given up on its charade, and it grinned back at him, showing razor-sharp fangs.

A sudden voice emerged from the floor by his foot, and he jumped hard, looking down.

"Hey, Jak, you haven't had any of my exclusive gold-floaty-purple stuff, have you?" Daxter said. He'd left Tess in a booth and had decided to see what was up with his best buddy, thinking maybe he'd finally decided to let his already hair down and have a few rounds. It would be just like Jak to get horribly drunk his first time touching booze.

Jak took a deep breath, one hand on his heart, the other slowly releasing its hold on the chair next to him. "No. Dax, look at my reflection."

Daxter frowned. Not only was his best friend not drunk, something seemed to be wrong with him. He resigned himself to normality and whirled up his best friend's body. Coming to rest on the Big Guy's shoulder, he turned slowly to peer at the mirror, wondering just what Jak had gotten them into this time.

Jak's eyes worriedly joined those of his best friend's in their scrutiny of the mirror. Before either member of the Demolition Duo could register their reflections, a massive boom erupted in the skies above. After a split second of flicker, every light in the bar cut out.

Tess laughed, Daxter squeaked, and Jak whirled, his morph gun, Blaster mod, already in his hands and his finger on the trigger. Nobody was prepared- everyone in the bar reacted somehow, and a thud from the stall nearest to the bar let everyone know that someone had fallen right off of their seat in fright from the sudden loss of vision.

"That'll be those lights again," Tess said. From the creaking sound in the darkness that came from her general direction, she was getting up.

After she did, a chorus of creaking bar seats told everyone that no one was sitting.

"Anybody got a light?" Someone's voice asked, near enough to make Jak and Daxter jump.

"There are some candles behind the bar," Tess said. "I'll get them."

The voice said, "I'm closer. Let me."

Some soft steps trekked across the Naughty Ottsel's floor and behind the bar, and there was the fragile clinking of alcohol bottles. After a few seconds of the sounds of aimless rummaging, Tess gave some directions: "Third drawer down, furthest from the left."

"And make it fast," A slightly drunk ottsel said, half buried in his friend's hair. "My whiskers don't do sight."

After the hard slide of a drawer opening sounded, and the waxen clicking of candles, a flick was heard, illuminating one small corner of bar.

"First discovery of man," Someone quipped, off to the back and the left of the tavern.

The joke and the prospect of candles calmed everyone down, and people began to step over to the bar to receive little waxen glowsticks. One brave soul instead tested the door, and they called over the candle holding crowd, "Hey, the doors won't open!"

"The electricity's out, Mar-genius," Someone said. "Those doors are electric."

Jak blinked, still holding tight to his gun. If that thing, that reflection…if it could move independently of him, it might be able to get out of the mirror, and if they couldn't get out…_crap._

"Jaak, let's go get a candle!" Daxter said, nudging his head.

"Daxter-" He said.

"It's dark. I hate the dark. I want a candle. I'll hold it while you shoot anything that looks scary, okay?"

Jak rolled his eyes and stuck his gun in his pack, giving in.

He had only taken the first step when the first candle was blown out.

"Hey, don't mess with my-" the words were chopped off.

A few slivers of flame, showing peoples' positions, immediately recoiled from the mirror, but one flame floated closer to the gap the extinguished flame had left. "Jefree?" The voice asked. It was the voice that had offered to get the candles in the first place. The candle was held up just a little higher, and then it vanished too. But this time there was a detectable sound. Kind of a whoosh, only more meaty, like the sound a bird sucked into the engine of a HellCat made.

This time it was everyone but Jak and Daxter's turn to scream or jump- Jak had the morph gun back out, set on Blaster, before the last small shriek was over. Its yellow glow was the only light the he and Daxter had.

One man half-screamed, "It's in the mirror! It's in the mirror! It took them! They're in the mirror-!" And then his candle vanished too.

Behind and near the bar, people began to jostle each other to get away, and a nervousness in the air almost resulted in a stampede.

"Hey! HEY!" Jak yelled.

Stuck by the cry, louder than anything else as of yet, people quit shoving each other for a second.

Jak spoke again, loudly but calmly. "I have a weapon. Everybody, get away from that mirror and behind Daxter and I,"

"One problem with that, padre," Daxter muttered in his ear. "How'll they find us?"

"Follow Daxter's voice," Jak said, just as evenly.

"Oh, really, so I'm some vocal homing beacon now? Yeah, hero boy, always just standing there all cool and collected. Always running straight toward wherever certain death and dismemberment are! Always waiting patiently for me, Orange Lightning, to bring down whatever hammer of the stupid Precursors and their stupid crap we have to face this time. " Daxter said, slightly drunk, amused, and irritated.

Jak let himself smirk, just the slightest. To be honest, he was scared out of his wits- which meant Daxter was too, probably more so.

Harried and yet slow to keep from tripping, the shuffle of frightened feet made its way toward them, and the steadiness of it gave Daxter some encouragement, and ammo for a new monologue.

"Yessiree, Blondie here and I are regular rent-a-saviors. We knock off about as many Metal-Heads a day together as the average KG saw in a month! Here we are, perfect targets, so stick behind the freak and the talking orange rat. Of course, neither of us can see through this pitch, which is about as thick as yakkow drool, but if anything comes flying at us, Jak'll shoot it!"

As he spoke, people drifted behind them with their candles, and as they passed, Jak flicked his rifle scope's laser on each one to be sure of what they were. They all flinched.

Tess was among the last to pass, and she stuck the closest to the Demolition Duo, admiring how Daxter was hunched on Jak's shoulder, ready to growl at anything that might threaten, and the measuring glint in Jak's eyes, the set of his jaw. She had to admit, though, Daxter was much more impressive.

Once everyone had passed them, Jak bumped his shoulder, momentarily lifting Daxter a few inches. He nodded forward, his eyebrows arched. _Can you see anything?_

Daxter, leaning into Jak's hair, muttered, "Yeah. About as well as Onin."

Jak gave him a look, and Daxter ignored it. "Keep your eyes on the scope, brother."

The blond snorted quietly, but put the gun back in front of his face.

He took a step forward, into the blackness that swallowed everything a foot from the candles.

"Mister, what are you doing?" A voice said from behind them.

Jak blinked. He hadn't realized that, as he was protecting civilians, he'd have to tell them every move he made- which would eliminate any advantage of surprise he might not have over the thing hidden in the dark.

"Daxter and I are going to root out that thing and kill it," He said, his voice betraying no emotion except determination.

"Wait- we are?" Daxter asked, suddenly a little frantic. "Maybe _you_ should go hunting while I stay here and…protect Tess!"

Jak pondered it silently as a "Awww…you're so brave!" emerged from the blonde to his back left.

"That actually sounds like a good idea, Dax," he said.

"Of course it is, it's my- wait." Daxter said.

Jak risked a glimpse at him and his mouth quirked at the expression on the ottsel's face.

"Yeah. You stay here and protect these guys and I'll go over there." He gestured with his gun.

There was a pause, at the end of which Daxter audibly gulped. "Okay, buddy. But if you get us killed…or me killed…or you killed…or either or both of us maimed...I already told you I'd never speak to you again!"

Jak nodded, an adrenaline-fueled grin spreading on his face as Daxter scurried off of him and up Tess.

"Daxtinator to the rescue, baby," Daxter told her. She giggled.

Jak didn't hear, focused hard on what was in front of him. He slid deeper into the shadows.

He trod carefully forward, out of the tiny sphere of light the remaining patrons and their candles made. He made no effort to hurry. This confrontation would happen soon enough.

Hearing a cough behind him, Jak whirled to see that it had just come from one of those holding a candle. He drew another breath to steel himself and looked ahead.

The Naughty Ottsel seemed bigger in the dark. He scoped around, hoping the laser on the end of his gun might catch something. But it wasn't all that surprising that nothing had jumped out and tried to gut him yet. His reflection had come from the mirror, after all, and it was undoubtedly by the mirror that it was waiting for him. He stepped towards the mirror, reached out, felt hard countertop. Jak peered into the blackness as far as his eyes would go, but saw nothing.

Jak frowned. This had to be some kind of-

A force knocked him to the ground, snarling and clawing for his throat.

Jak yelled, pushing back as hard as he could with one hand. His gun had been knocked into an awkward position behind his head, and he had to let go of it before the thing overpowered him.

"Jak? JAK!" Daxter cried, leaping to the floor with a thud. Jak couldn't answer with anything more than a strained grunt, trying to twist free of whatever was on top of him.

He couldn't quite make it, and thought if he could see it, he might be able to gouge its eyes out. He squinted up, both with the effort that was sight and the struggle of not letting this thing get its hands around his neck. Through the dark, he saw something that looked suspiciously like white, spiky hair. With a jolt of realization, Jak drew in a gasp, losing his focus for a split second, and was awarded a series of deep claw marks across his chest.

With a pained yell, Jak managed to shove the thing back just enough to keep it from pulling that stunt again. Then a blob that would be orange in better light flew into the monster's face, clawing and biting like he had rabies. Seamlessly, Jak dove on top of the other body, pinning its arms with its knees so it couldn't scratch either one of them. He ducked low to avoid the savage kicks it aimed at his back. Once the thing was pinned down hard, Daxter scrambled off its face and stood panting by the left side of its head, staring in shock at the pale face beneath him.

Dark Jak writhed and screamed something inhuman at the both of them, thrashing for all it was worth. Murder was in its black eyes, and sparks of purple energy floated menacingly off of it, setting their little scene aglow in nothing good. Daxter avoided the specks of Dark Eco, but Jak couldn't, and they stung wherever they touched.

Jak didn't look behind him, but just underneath the screams of the Dark Creature trapped beneath him, he could hear the whimpers of the civilians. One voice stood out among them- Tess, doing her best to soothe everyone else, Mar bless her.

Daxter grabbed a dish towel that had fallen off of a nearby table and crammed it in the mouth of the monster.

There was a tense minute more that the thing beneath them struggled to break free, and then Jak found himself pinning down nothing.

He looked behind him, saw everyone, and realized the lights had come back on.

He looked down, and noticed the Dark Eco soaked gag beneath him.

He looked down a second longer, and a few drops of blood from his chest splattered to the ground.

He looked at Daxter, who was looking at him with the exact same shell shocked expression.

Then he stumbled to his feet, and Daxter leapt onto his shoulder.

The two looked around, half expecting something to come flying at them out of some dark corner, but the lights were on, and the only things in the bar were a bunch of empty tables, a wrestling square, a whole bunch of terrified civvies, Tess, and them.

The second to last of which were staring at them with something mingling awe and horror.

Jak cleared his throat. "I think we're okay now."

That was all it took. Everyone in the bar cleared in a matter of seconds, leaving only Daxter, Tess, and him.

"What happened, guys?" Tess asked, stepping forward, eyeing the bloody streaks across Jak's chest.

Daxter exploded, words folding up over themselves in their rush to get out. "The freakin' mirror, it freakin', freakin', threw a monster at us!"

Daxter looked at Jak for confirmation, but Jak was busy reaching down for his morph gun, which he picked up easily, dusting it off.

Then his eyes hardened, and he stared into the mirror, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Reflection Jak's eyes turned black, and the mirror was shattered before the reflection had a chance to say 'pooh'.

He exhaled slowly, releasing tension, and lowered his gun. "Let's go, Dax,"

Daxter said nothing, scurrying up to his shoulder. The ottsel shook his head, hunching securely on Jak's shoulderplate, biting back a flood of words.

"Jak, those look like bad cuts. There's some Green Eco in the storage room…"

"No way, Tess," Daxter said. "We are out. Of. Here. Maybe we'll be back next Tuesday or something, but right now the world outside the Naughty Ottsel is callin'."

Jak agreed with a nod and then the two stumbled out of the Naughty Ottsel into the night. They hopped onto the zoomer they had brought there and began to steer it to a destination: the Underground HQ. Both Daxter and Jak were feeling a need to sleep for at least seven hours straight, and a bunk would hopefully be open.

Unfortunately for the both of them, they were both too tired to look in any puddles they passed. Or maybe they'd just had enough horror-movie adventure for one night.

Either way, in them, in every single one, both of their reflections stared, turning their heads to see them best, and in every single reflection, their eyes were dark as midnight.

THE END

**A/N again: Yeah. I'd like it if you told me what was good and what was bad...I published it as it is 'cuz I was sick of editing it and 'cuz time ran out- Halloween's tomorrow (OH YEAH!) But. Yes. Scurries off, promising to not vanish again. **


End file.
